Don't Pile or File but 'Pile-File'

02-18-2010, 12:43 PM

Dear Reader

In this electronic age most people try to limit the number of prints they make. Nevertheless, sometimes you need to print documents to: study, make notes on, or to take with you to a meeting. But what to do with the printed copies? Put them on a pile, or put them in a file system?

I have been experimenting with a simple 'Pile-File' system that incorporates the advantages of both the Filing and the Piling approach. The Pile-File is a pile but by adding a category sheet and using category flags the pile gets properties similar to a file. The picture below shows the basic principles.

Comment

Personally I think that scalability is one of the strong points of the Pile-File. The binder with the documents, as shown above, is only used for the recent documents. As soon as the binder is full the documents are taken out, and a copy of the category sheet is placed on top. To keep the pile together you can use a tube clip fastener.

Even in the archived Pile-File you can still use the category flags, and you can still retrace documents using the document sequence number. (If you use this feature as described in the video). The documents in an archived Pile-File also retain their chronogical order, making it possible to find a document back if you know it's date.